Louis Armstrong, Featuring Arvell Shaw: How High The Moon

Here’s a fantastic video of Louis Armstrong handing the spotlight over to bassist Arvell Shaw for a bass feature on “How High the Moon,” from a 1963 performance in Sydney, Australia.

Shaw pulls out all the stops during the nearly 7-minute romp. “Show business,” he says, just before breaking out his bow to play all the way up into the stratosphere. Armstrong and the band come back in for the big finish, and Shaw finishes it with a bang.

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At 3:37 he begins a solid quote from “Uncle Bumba From Kalumba Does the Rhumba”, a hit from 30 years earlier by the German vocal group Comedian Harmonists. Talk about reaching back into the deeper reaches of the pop music archives!